


Twenty-Eight Seconds

by MaddieandChimney



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24839428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney
Summary: When Maddie comes home from work, Chimney moves to cuddle her, only for her to collapse in his arms.
Relationships: Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20
Collections: Madney One-Shots





	Twenty-Eight Seconds

The moment Chimney hears the door open, he almost drops the eggs he’s holding, quickly placing them on the side when he smiles. “Hey, baby, I was just about to start cooking, how’s your stomach today?”

Heading towards her, arms open and smile growing at the thought of finally holding her after a twenty-four-hour shift that had somehow collided with her twelve-hour one, meaning he hadn’t seen her in far too long. The smile is quickly replaced by a frown at the weak muttering of his name before, instead of wrapping her arms around him as he expects, he barely manages to catch her in time when she falls forward.

“Maddie?”

It takes a moment too long for him to go into paramedic mode, for him to catch his breath and slowly lower her to the floor. It’s the first time he notices just how pale she is, how dark the circles under her eyes are and there’s that familiar feeling of guilt creeping over him because he wishes he had noticed the very first second she walked through the door.

Once he’s got her laying on her side, one hand running through her hair to brush it from her face, and the other on her wrist as he counts in his head. It’s slow, but it’s there and that’s enough to just gulp down the lump in his throat. Thirty more seconds, that’s how long he’ll give her until he dials 911. He can’t tear his eyes away from her, waiting for just one flutter of those eyelashes he loves so much, willing to see those brown eyes that so often give away everything she’s feeling.

It’s been twenty-eight seconds by the time he hears a small groan, when her hand slightly flinches away from his touch, and he feels like he can breathe again. “Hey, Maddie, don’t try and sit up, baby, okay? H-have you…” His hand flies to her forehead before he can ask the question, and before she can deny anything – no fever. “We should get you to the hospital, okay? To check the baby over and I know, I know what you’re going to say but—”

“Y-yes… need to… uh,” If he’s surprised by her words when she cuts him off, he’s even more so by the look of complete desperation in her eyes when she finally opens them and looks at him. Maddie is stubborn to a fault, especially when she’s sick so for her to be admitting to needing help, he knows it can’t be good.

“I’m going to sit you up slowly, okay? It’s okay.”

When his hands are on her arms, slowly lifting her up, Maddie takes her turn to look concerned at her boyfriend, “You’re shaking.” She whispers, a hand gently moving to graze her fingers along his cheekbone.

“You really scared me, Maddie… I’m still scared.”

“Just… morning sickness, can’t keep anything down. H-haven’t eaten anything all day so I can… stay on the phone.”

Of course, that makes sense, it hadn’t passed him by that Maddie was struggling more than either of them thought she would, even before they had found out she was pregnant. Chimney wants to be mad at her, he really does but honestly, he knows he’d do the exact same thing – work came first when they were actually in work. He couldn’t risk another patients life because he had a nauseated stomach at times, and Maddie isn’t all that different from him in that particular way. “We’ll get some help, okay? It’s okay to ask for help.”

It’s slightly hypocritical, he’s never been one to ask for any form of help until it’s on the edge of being too late but he needs her to know. He needs her to know that after years of not being able to use her voice to ask for help, she can scream it from the top of her lungs now and he will fight his way to get her anything she needs. “Come on, baby, I got you. I love you.”


End file.
